| |
| AS I stood by yon roofless tower, | |
| Where the wa’flow’r scents the dery air, | |
| Where the howlet mourns in her ivy bower, | |
| And tells the midnight moon her care. | |
| |
| Chorus.—A lassie all alone, was making her moan, | 5 |
| Lamenting our lads beyond the sea: | |
| In the bluidy wars they fa’, and our honour’s gane an’ a’, | |
| And broken-hearted we maun die. | |
| |
| The winds were laid, the air was till, | |
| The stars they shot along the sky; | 10 |
| The tod was howling on the hill, | |
| And the distant-echoing glens reply. | |
| A lassie all alone, &c. | |
| |
| The burn, adown its hazelly path, | |
| Was rushing by the ruin’d wa’, | 15 |
| Hasting to join the sweeping Nith, | |
| Whase roarings seem’d to rise and fa’. | |
| A lassie all alone, &c. | |
| |
| The cauld blae North was streaming forth | |
| Her lights, wi’ hissing, eerie din, | 20 |
| Athort the lift they start and shift, | |
| Like Fortune’s favours, tint as win. | |
| A lassie all alone, &c. | |
| |
| Now, looking over firth and fauld, | |
| Her horn the pale-faced Cynthia rear’d, | 25 |
| When lo! in form of Minstrel auld, | |
| A stern and stalwart ghaist appear’d. | |
| A lassie all alone, &c. | |
| |
| And frae his harp sic strains did flow, | |
| Might rous’d the slumbering Dead to hear; | 30 |
| But oh, it was a tale of woe, | |
| As ever met a Briton’s ear! | |
| A lassie all alone, &c. | |
| |
| He sang wi’ joy his former day, | |
| He, weeping, wail’d his latter times; | 35 |
| But what he said-it was nae play, | |
| I winna venture’t in my rhymes. | |
| A lassie all alone, &c. | |
| |
